Get the CCJ moved to the high court and then enforced by court sheriffs – costs about £60 and the sheriffs can enter premises to remove goods and arrest anyone who gets in their way. There’s a series about it on bbc1 at the moment – seems quite a good system and a lot more robust that bailiffs.

That leaves reason 2 then, though having a successful business and having cash to pay bills are not the same thing. Though if it’s got to this stage you may find a few interesting accounting practices to keep you away from the cash.

I’m not a solicitor or legally trained but have some experience of this through work.

If he owns any property you can apply for a Charging Order on them. It’s fairly quick and easy to do but you may have to attend court one or twice when the Interim Order is being made Final.You won’t get any money though till he sells or remortgages, but you can charge 8% interest per year.

You could also apply for a Third Party Debt Order which I think works by sweeping the debtors bank account on a particular day and you get what’s in it. So obviously you only do this if you know his bank details and when he’s likely to have all your money in it.

Last option, Russian Roulette style, is to apply for a Bankruptcy Order. It costs a fair bit to do and you won’t get anything out of it other than pushing him right to the limit to pay you or temporarily ruining him.

Unless he has vehicles that he owns and aren’t financed on the drive I’ve found County Court Bailiffs to be pretty ineffectual at getting anything from a debtor. I’ve no experience of the Sheriff’s.

Good luck!

We got a £5k CCJ and eviction order against a tenant last year. Sadly, they had no money and were living hand to mouth on benefits, so we just wrote it all off. It did smart a bit!